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BALOCHISTAN ZAKAT AND USHR BALOCHISTAN ZAKAT AND USHR ACT, 2012 An Act to make provisions relating to the assessment, collection and disbursement of Zakat and Ushr [Gazette of Balochistan, Extraordinary, 27th March, 2012] No.PAB/Legis:V(01)/2012, dated 27-3-2012.---Having been passed the Balochistan Zakat and Ushr Bill No.1 of 2012, by the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan on 20th March, 2012 and assented to by the Governor, Balochistan on 22nd March, 2012 is hereby published as an Act of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly. Preamble.--Whereas it is necessary to make provisions relating to the assessment, collection and disbursement of Zakat and Ushr and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. And whereas Zakat, including Ushr, is one of the fundamental pillars (Arkan) of Islam; and prime objective of the collection of Zakat and Ushr, and disbursements therefrom, is to assist the needy, the indigent and the poor; And whereas the rates of Zakat and Ushr, as also the purposes for the utilization of Zakat and Ushr, are specified in Shariah; and And whereas Shariah enjoins all Muslims who are Sahib-e-Nisab to pay, and the State to arrange for the proper collection, disbursement and utilization of Zakat and Ushr, and also allows such Muslims to disburse for the purposes authorized by Shariah the part thereof not collected by the State; It is hereby enacted as follows:-- CHAPTER-I PRELIMINARY 1. Short title, extent, application and commencement.---(1) This Act may be called the Balochistan Zakat and Ushr Act, 2012. (2) It extends to the whole of the Province of Balochistan except the Tribal Areas; (3) It applies as regards payment and recovery of Zakat and Ushr only to Muslim citizens and a company, or other association of persons, or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, majority of the shares of which is owned, or the beneficial ownership of which is held, by such citizens: Provided that:-- I-- In respect of a person who may believe that the whole or any part of the recoveries effected from him in the manner laid down in this Act are not according to his belief, such recoveries shall nevertheless be made, but shall be deemed to be contribution to Zakat Fund on the part of that person: II--(a) no Zakat or Ushr shall be charged or collected on compulsory basis in respect of the assets or the produce of a person who, not less than thirty days preceding the Valuation Date in the case of Zakat and at any time before the Valuation Date in the case of Ushr, files with the Deducting Agency, or with the Local Committee in the case of Ushr, a declaration, or an attested copy thereof, in the prescribed form, sworn by him before a Magistrate, an Oath Commissioner, a Notary Public, or any other person authorized to administer oath, in the presence of two witnesses who identify him, to the effect that he is a Muslim and a follower of one of the recognized Fiqhs, which he shall specify in the declaration, and that this faith and the said Fiqh do not oblige him to pay the whole or any part of Zakat or Ushr in the manner laid down in this Act; and (b) a declaration, or an attested copy thereof, filed as aforesaid in one Zakat year, whether before or after commencement of Zakat and Ushr Act, 2012 shall continue to be valid for so long as-- (i) the declaration or copy, and the asset liable to Zakat, to which it relates, remain in the custody of the Deducting Agency; or (ii) the person filing the declaration or copy continues to hold, in respect of the land to the produce of which it relates, the same status as he held at the time of filing the declaration, and the declaration of copy remains in the custody of the Local Committee: III-- where for any reason Zakat or Ushr is collected on compulsory basis from such a person and he does not wish to leave it in the Zakat fund as Sadaqah or Khairat in the name of Allah as a manifestation of the unity of the Ummah and claims refund, on the basis of a declaration as aforesaid filed by him within the period specified in the first proviso or within such further period as may be prescribed, the amount so collected shall be refunded to him in the prescribed manner. Explanation.---In this Act, reference to Zakat deductible at source or to Ushr realizable on compulsory basis shall be construed to imply a reference to contributions to Zakat Fund also. IV---the Federal Shariat Court may, on the application of any person, decide the question whether a declaration such as is referred to here above in the clauses (I) and (II) of the proviso to subsection (3) made by any person is valid according to the Fiqh he professes to follow; and where the Court decides that the declaration is not valid, such person shall, without prejudice to any other action that may be, taken against him under any other law, shall be liable to pay Zakat or Ushr, as the case may be, in the manner laid down in this Act. (4) It shall come into force at once and shall be deemed to have taken effect from 22nd day of July, 2011.